


A Carriage Ride in Piedmont Park

by Silent_So_Long



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-16
Updated: 2011-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-26 04:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/278471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silent_So_Long/pseuds/Silent_So_Long
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim and Leonard take a carriage ride in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park, after Jim expresses interest in seeing where Leonard grew up. (in Atlanta, not in the park, obviously, lol.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Carriage Ride in Piedmont Park

The regular cadence of strident hoof-beats seemed to dominate the hush that had fallen between Jim and Leonard, as the carriage moved languidly through Piedmont Park. Leonard had one arm settled comfortably across Jim’s shoulders, tall body loose and relaxed by the Captain’s side. Jim, himself, was a little more tense, although his body’s rigidity came from excitement, not through a lack of enjoyment. Leonard watched Jim, an amused smile curling the doctor’s lips as Jim leant forward to take in a new sight that he hadn’t seen before.

Jim’s eyes, already a startling and ultimately pretty shade of blue, reflected back a new drapery of Christmas lights adorning the trees that the carriage passed. His mouth opened slightly, in a smile of appreciation as the fairy lights outside winked on and off. Leonard smiled again and rubbed his hand affectionately across Jim’s arm, until the other man settled back against him again.. It wasn’t as though Leonard hadn’t seen the lights before; although he hadn’t had much cause to traverse Piedmont Park while he’d been living in Atlanta, he knew the lights were there all the same. Jim hadn’t experienced the lights, nor anything about Georgia before.

It had been largely at Jim’s insistence that Leonard show him a small part of where the doctor had grown up, genuinely curious as to the landscape that had formed the background for the growing boy known then as just plain Leonard Horatio McCoy. Of course, that had been before Leonard had studied medicine, attended Starfleet Academy in San Francisco and ascended to the stars, otherwise known as the much maligned balls of gaseous flame that harboured disease and destruction in equal parts. Jim had never broken Leonard entirely out of his fear of space in all the time he’d known him.

At first, Leonard hadn’t understood Jim’s eagerness to see Atlanta, confused as to what was, to Leonard, just an ordinary Southern city, no different to any other. Jim’s answering response had been sound in its logic - no other town had been the playground of a certain doctor during his formative years. Leonard had sighed at that, complaining with every step that he took that Jim wouldn’t like it. Jim, of course, was a country boy, surrounded by Iowan cornfields and not much else. Jim hadn’t corrected him, despite the fact that Riverside wasn’t as country-fied as Leonard seemed to believe. Leonard had relented, under duress of knowing that Jim would never let him hear the end of it if he didn’t.

So far, the trip had been a success. Leonard had showed Jim the restaurants, the Atlanta Aquarium, even the zoo, before Jim had pulled Leonard into Piedmont Park, insisting that he wanted to be amongst true nature, instead of caged animals. Leonard had sighed, knowing there were just as many basketball courts and golf courses within the confines of Piedmont Park as there were lakes and trees. Jim wouldn’t have it and had plunged in, leaving Leonard to pay the cover cost of two adults for the remainder of the day.

They’d made it in time for the first horse drawn carriage to leave on its round of the Park, black horse waiting patiently while the carriage driver held the door open for Leonard and Jim. Jim had grinned cheekily at the carriage driver and hopped right in, yet Leonard had scowled at the smartly dressed man, instead.

“Dammit, man, I’m not that old. I can open my own doors,” he’d growled at the man, yet the driver seemed unperturbed by the irascible doctor.

Jim had laughed and had urged Leonard to just climb in. The doctor had caught that faint fleeting note of don’t-make-a-scene-Bones caught beneath the captain’s words. Leonard had thrown the carriage driver one last stony glare, before climbing in beside Jim. The other man was still grinning, eyes shining with excitement as he watched the driver climb up into his seat and handle the reins expertly. Leonard had watched Jim, at the excited interest that the captain always invested in everything, like a child still trapped within the confines of a 31 year old man’s body. Jim had caught Leonard staring and pecked a quick kiss upon the other man’s surprised mouth, before returning his attentions to the outside.

“Hey, Bones, look,” Jim said, voice cutting into Leonard’s thoughts and bringing him firmly back into the present again.

Leonard looked out and saw a cavalcade of carol singers ranged around the Legacy Fountain, sweet voices rising to the skies in eternal joyful praises of the coming Yuletide season. Leonard had to catch his breath for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden intimacy of the moment, caught within the confines of a steadily rolling carriage with his lover, surrounded by the strains of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.”

Leonard swallowed, and wondered why he hadn’t taken a carriage ride before. He’d been missing out on something special all these years and he hadn’t known that he was missing it until now. He glanced towards Jim and then reminded himself of why he hadn’t taken a carriage ride - he hadn’t had anyone to take with him. Even Jocelyn had deplored such things as childish, much to Leonard’s continued chagrin. That cutting diatribe had hurt him, as Jocelyn had known it would, yet there was no fear of such diatribes from Jim. Keeping Jim away from trying every last thing he could would be a difficult matter to address indeed, and Leonard was suddenly glad of that. He found it nice, soothing even, to have someone he could genuinely share things with.

Jim caught Leonard staring at him, then, and raised his eyebrows in mock surprise at the other man.

“What?” Jim asked, as though he expected Leonard to say he wasn’t enjoying himself.

“Nothin‘, darlin’,” Leonard said, wearily. “Jus’ wonderin’ why I didn’t do this before, is all.”

“Maybe because you had no one to ask before me,” Jim said, astutely, with a wink.

Leonard just smiled at that and remained silent. Jim smiled back, his eyes tempered a little with the sadness he felt at knowing he’d hit the nail on the head.

“I’m sorry,” was all Jim said.

“For what?” Leonard snorted back. “Dammit, Jim, I’m not sorry, so why should you be? I think all things considered, it turned out well in the end.”

Jim grinned at that, staring at Leonard and the way the Christmas lights played across the other man’s face, catching in hazel eyes like many-coloured twinkling stars. Darkness was descending now, lending the doctor an almost mysterious air, suddenly, as though he was eldritch and about to drift away. Only the continued presence and warmth from Leonard’s body convinced Jim that the other man was still there and wasn’t about to disappear. Leonard’s hand was a warm comfort against him, arm a welcome weight across his shoulder.

Jim leant in then, and startled Leonard with a deep, hungry kiss, before he drew a hair’s breadth away, breath mingling in warm little gusts.

“I love ya, Bones,” Jim murmured against Leonard’s mouth.

“Dammit, Jim,” Leonard huffed, clearly embarrassed by the other man’s proclamation.

“I do,” Jim persisted, with a grin brightening his eyes. “You don’t have to say it back. I know, already.”

“Shut up, Jim,” Leonard growled. “I love ya, okay? You happy? Now, just shut up and kiss me.”

“Aye, sir,” Jim replied, making a mockery of the epithet that greeted him on a daily basis on the Enterprise.

Jim leant forward then, capturing Leonard's warm face between his hands, capturing his mouth with a gentle kiss. Jim knew that Leonard wasn’t good with words, when they pertained to things such as gratitude or love, preferring instead to show everything through actions instead of words. Jim didn’t mind; he knew how Leonard felt, with every gesture the other man made, every touch, every kiss, every time they made love. Those gestures were more important than words, to Jim; they showed better than words could ever convey just how deeply Leonard cared about him. Jim only hoped the other man felt the same when he touched Leonard. Somehow, he thought that Leonard knew.

He felt Leonard smiling through the kiss and Jim smiled back, feeling the long, slow sweeps Leonard’s hand made upon his back. When the kiss ended, Leonard rested his forehead against Jim’s, eyelids swooping down to cover his eyes momentarily, before he said one word - “Jim!”

Jim shushed him, before he leant in to kiss him again.

~~ the end~~


End file.
